Editing Anna Lindh (section)

== Political career ==
Lindh served in the [[Riksdag]] from 1982 until 1985, and again from 1998 until her death in 2003. From 1991 to 1994, she was Commissioner of Culture and Environment and the Deputy Mayor of [[Stockholm]].<ref>{{cite news |last1=Gavel |first1=Doug |title=Power named first Anna Lindh Professor |url=https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2006/09/power-named-first-anna-lindh-professor/ |work=The Harvard Gazette |date=14 September 2006}}</ref><ref name="Times">{{cite news |title=Anna Lindh |url=https://www.thetimes.com/article/anna-lindh-tvfm0trpwgp |work=[[The Times]] |date=12 September 2003}}</ref> In 1994, after a [[Social Democrats (Sweden)|Social Democratic]] victory in the election of that year, [[Prime Minister of Sweden|Prime Minister]] [[Ingvar Carlsson]] appointed her to his cabinet as [[Ministry of the Environment and Energy (Sweden)|Minister for the Environment]].<ref name="Times" /> One of Lindh's legacies was her pioneering work towards [[European Union]] legislation on [[hazardous material|hazardous chemical substances]]. She also called for the establishment of a common EU strategy against [[acid rain]].
[[File:Annalindh.jpg|upright|left|thumb|alt=Smiling woman with short hair and glasses|Lindh in 1995]]
After the [[1998 Swedish general election|1998 election]], Prime Minister [[Göran Persson]] appointed Lindh to succeed [[Lena Hjelm-Wallén]] as [[Minister for Foreign Affairs (Sweden)|Minister for Foreign Affairs]] in the new government.<ref>{{cite web |title=A model minister |url=https://www.politico.eu/article/a-model-minister/ |website=Politico |date=21 October 1998}}</ref> Having made influential friends around the world as president of the Swedish Social Democratic Youth League, Lindh ardently supported international cooperation through the [[United Nations]] and in the European Union.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Berg |first1=Elin |last2=Hedström |first2=Jenny |title=The Legacy of Anna Lindh |url=https://www.fhs.se/en/studentweb/archive/news/thelegacyofannalindh.5.4ccfe00e18a7d03156b7577b.html |website=fhs.se |publisher=Swedish Defence University |date=11 September 2023}}</ref>

A high point in her career occurred during the Swedish [[Presidency of the Council of the European Union|presidency of the European Union]] in early 2001. Lindh served as chairman of the [[Presidency of the Council of the European Union|Council of the European Union]], responsible for representing the official foreign policy position of the European Union. Travelling with European Union Foreign and Security Policy Spokesman [[Javier Solana]] in [[Republic of North Macedonia|North Macedonia]], during the Kosovo-Macedonian crisis, she negotiated an agreement which averted a civil war in the country.<ref name="eubio" />
[[File:Zoran Đinđić and Anna Lindh.jpg|thumb|alt=Smiling man and woman standing together|With [[Prime Minister of Serbia]] [[Zoran Đinđić]] in Stockholm. Lindh was due to meet Đinđić in [[Belgrade]] in March 2003, moments before his assassination. Lindh was assassinated in Stockholm six months after Đinđić's assassination.]]

Another talking point in her career was the violent [[repatriation of Ahmed Agiza and Muhammad al-Zery]] from Sweden to [[Egypt]], an operation carried out by the [[US military]]. According to a 2009 book published by journalist and friend of Lindh Eva Franchell, Göran Persson claimed the US administration would place a trade embargo on the European Union if Sweden did not let the Americans pick up Ahmed Agiza and Muhammad al-Zery on Swedish soil.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Thunberg |first=Karin |date=2009-01-18 |title="Anna Lindh kände sig grundlurad" |language=sv |work=[[Svenska Dagbladet]] |url=https://www.svd.se/a/3b14c5e7-1202-39bc-8c1b-8b394bf1bb71/anna-lindh-kande-sig-grundlurad |access-date=2023-09-11 |issn=1101-2412}}</ref> Persson publicly denied this claim following the book's publication.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Kihlström |first=Staffan |date=2009-01-20 |title=S-toppar förnekar kännedom om CIA |language=sv |work=[[Dagens Nyheter]] |url=https://www.dn.se/arkiv/sverige/s-toppar-fornekar-kannedom-om-cia/ |access-date=2023-09-11}}</ref> Lindh had to choose between standing up for human rights and supporting trade relations with the US. She chose the latter and was later extensively criticised for her actions.{{Citation needed|date=July 2016}} On 24 May 2004, when the committee against torture at the United Nations' Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights found that the [[Government of Sweden]] had violated its obligations under the Convention against torture in the forced repatriation of Agiza, Lindh had already been murdered.

Lindh criticised the [[2003 invasion of Iraq]], saying that: {{cquote|A war being fought without support in the statutes of the United Nations is a major failure.}}

However, Lindh praised the fall of [[Saddam Hussein]]. She advocated greater respect for international law and human rights in the [[Israeli–Palestinian conflict]], criticising [[Ariel Sharon]]'s Israeli government, but also condemning [[Palestinian people|Palestinian]] [[suicide bombings]] as "[[wikt:atrocity|atrocities]]". She argued strongly for an end to Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories; in an interview shortly before her death she said: {{cquote|Israeli settlement in the West Bank must go; there must be a Palestinian state; Israel must vacate all occupied areas on the West Bank and Gaza Strip and end all extra-territorial executions and attacks on Palestinians.<ref name=Telegraph/>}}

During the final weeks of her life, she was involved in the pro-euro campaign, where she advocated for [[Sweden]] to become a member of the [[Eurozone]]. She led the yes campaign in the [[2003 Swedish euro referendum|referendum]]. The referendum was held on 14 September 2003 (three days after her death). As a popular pro-euro politician, she was a spokesperson and chair for the yes campaign; her face was on billboards across Sweden the day she was murdered.<ref name="Telegraph">{{Cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1441219/Anna-Lindh.html |title=Anna Lindh |date=12 September 2003 |work=[[Daily Telegraph|The Telegraph]] |type=obituary |access-date=4 April 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190106155029/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1441219/Anna-Lindh.html |archive-date=6 January 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Comelli |first=Michele |date=July–September 2004 |title=The Challenges of the European Neighbourhood Policy |journal=[[The International Spectator]] |volume=39 |issue=3 |pages=97–110|doi=10.1080/03932720408457087 |s2cid=154835160 }}</ref>